


in spite of real distance, we'll always be close

by thequeenofokay



Category: Quantico (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Prompt Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-24
Updated: 2016-01-24
Packaged: 2018-05-15 20:24:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5798725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thequeenofokay/pseuds/thequeenofokay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shelby isn’t a birthday person. Or at least, not her own birthday. She used to love it. She had no reason not to, and then her parents died, and she did have a reason to hate it.</p>
<p>Most years she’s managed to pull together some friends into a party. When she’s feeling especially awful about the whole day she’s ended up blackout drunk to try and forget the whole sorry affair. And sometimes, she forgoes celebrating it all together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	in spite of real distance, we'll always be close

**Author's Note:**

> \+ this is so fluffy and silly sry.
> 
> \+ title from "sarah minor" by keaton henson.

Shelby isn’t a birthday person. Or at least, not her own birthday. She used to love it. She had no reason not to, and then her parents died, and she _did_ have a reason to hate it.

Most years she’s managed to pull together some friends into a party. When she’s feeling especially awful about the whole day she’s ended up blackout drunk to try and forget the whole sorry affair. And sometimes, she forgoes celebrating it all together.

In the three years she’s been a part of the FBI, she’s always managed to go for the last option. Sometimes she’s been undercover, so celebrating would be impossible anyway, and sometimes she’s just forgotten to mention it.

There’s no point in making a fuss.

This time around, she almost manages to forget that this birthday is happening. She’s just coming off a two week mission, and even just the debrief was so complicated and exhausted that she’s happy to let her mind slide into fuzziness over the specifics of the day.

She buys a bottle of wine for herself from the corner shop on her street, and decides that’s enough celebration for her.

She unlocks her front door and pushes it open with her shoulder. She’s kicking off her heels in the hallway and debating to herself what she’s going to watch on Netflix when she hears movement further into her home.

She almost drops the wine as she takes out her gun. She hadn’t noticed that the door had been tampered with, but it doesn’t means that they didn’t come in the back.

Or that she’s let herself get too exhausted and didn’t notice.

She rounds the corner, and finds Caleb perched awkwardly against her dining table, hands dug in her pockets. Frowning, Shelby sets down her gun and the wine.

‘What are you doing here?’ she asks.

He shifts slightly, his attention mostly focussed on her shoes. They’re on better terms that they once were, but it would be a stretch to call them friends. ‘Happy birthday,’ he says.

‘How did you know?’ she asks.

He laughs, finally looking up at her properly. ‘Come on, Shelby,’ he says. ‘It’s in your file.’ He pauses, still watching her carefully. ‘And it was your passcode.’

He remembered. She crosses her arms tight around her chest, oddly shaken. She wants to make some joke about never getting round to changing it, but it doesn’t seem right. ‘Oh,’ she says. ‘Right. Cool,’ she says, with forced enthusiasm that makes her wince. No one ever _remembers_ her birthday. Not for a long time. And it’s not their fault, because she never lets it slip.

And bless him, he’s so clearly uncomfortable, but he’s trying so hard. ‘I didn’t know if you’d want anyone around to celebrate with you today,’ he says. ‘I didn’t want to just spring anything on you without asking first, but I spoke to a few people about getting dinner tomorrow.’ He’s so nervous when he looks at her, but desperately trying to hide it, and she has to fight down the urge to reach out and rub his arm in comfort. ‘I can cancel if you don’t want to,’ he adds.

‘No,’ she says, and she’s surprised to find that she’s not lying. ‘That sounds lovely, really.’

He nods. She can see the relief settling through his shoulders. ‘Good,’ he says. He reaches quickly behind him, picking something off the table, and holds it out to her. ‘Here,’ he says. ‘I got you this.’

She takes the package gently. It’s not big, and though the wrapping is haphazard she can see the tenderness in it – the peach toned wrapping paper is a colour she remembers telling him she loved, the sellotape has been applied and reapplied in an attempt to get it perfect.

She opens it carefully. There’s a fine gold necklace inside, with a pearl pendant. It’s nothing special, not really, and yet it _is_. It’s so special, and she could never put into words why. Maybe, if she was forced to, it would be because it says _i still love you, not the way i did before, but we were only young then and we didn’t understand._

She doesn’t know what to say.

‘Thank you,’ she manages, reaching up to hang it around her neck.

‘Do you like it?’ he asks.

‘Yes,’ she says. Her eyes flick back up to him. ‘I love it.’

He looks so pleased but he’s hiding it so well, everywhere but his eyes. It would be flawless if she hadn’t grown to know him so well once.

She suddenly realises she doesn’t want him to leave. She doesn’t want this to be another birthday spent alone. Nobody deserves that, not even her, and maybe he knows that. ‘I was going to watch a film,’ she says. ‘And I’ve got wine, if you want to stay.’

It takes him a moment to answer, and she can’t believe that the possibility she’d want him to stay had never occurred to him. ‘Sure,’ he says. ‘If that’s what you want.’

They start a good, polite difference apart from each other on the sofa. Their wine glasses are on the coffee table in front of them along with a cupcake each that Caleb had also brought, and there’s a candle stuck haphazardly in hers.

Somehow, over the course of the film they closer, and at some point, her head lulls against his shoulder. She shouldn’t let herself feel so relaxed here, but it’s too late for that. His arm wraps around her shoulder, letting her curl against him. It crosses her mind how oddly domestic they must look, and how wrong this is for two people that she didn’t this afternoon she wouldn’t have called friends, but she’s too exhausted and too comfortable to do anything about it.

‘Thank you,’ she murmurs. She’s not sure he’ll hear over the noise of the TV. ‘I can’t believe you did this for me.’

Without moving to look, she can feel him looking down at her. ‘Did what?’ he asks.

She gives a little shrug. ‘Gave me a nice birthday,’ she says.

There’s silence for a moment, and then he says, ‘You’re welcome, Shelby.’ She thinks his arm might tighten a little around her, but she might just be imagining it. There’s a heavy warmth in her chest, and soon she can feel her eyes starting to drifting closed, and her body sliding down until she’s lying against his chest.

 

*

 

She wakes up tucked neatly into her bed, still fully dressed as she had been the night before. Caleb must have carried her up. Her hand goes straight to her throat – the necklace is still there, reminding her it was real. The warmth is still there too in her chest, and it’s a sort of contentment she hasn’t felt in a long time.

**Author's Note:**

> \+ [tumblr](http://theshelbywyatt.tumblr.com)!! (prompt moi.)


End file.
